Pool Party Pandemonium
by IceWrecker
Summary: 3 months after what happened in Unlocked, Ralph, Vanellope, and Lucy decide to surprise RJ by taking him to cool off at the pool. However, there are a few barriers the clone-turned-glitch needs to overcome before he can fully enjoy himself. (Contest entry on Deviantart, one shot)


**A** **/N: Okay, I'll be straight with you guys: this is supposed to be an entry for a summer contest over on Deviantart, but I thought it would be good if I also posted this here. I think it would be a good continuation to Unlocked, following RJ's story, so yeah, that's that.**

 **Spoilers to Unlocked ahead (read that first if you don't wanna get spoiled :D), as this happens roughly 3 months after the end of Unlocked. This also serves as a good link between Unlocked and the story that I'm about to write next. So yeah, hope you like it! :)**

 **Lucy (the girl appearing in the story) belongs to my good friend Lazorrock, go check her out also!**

* * *

"HEY, STINKFACE! WAKEY WAKEY! GET UP! GET UP!"

I scream and bolt upright in my bed, some of my wires falling off because of my sudden movement. I rub my eyes and look up, only to see a young tiny girl standing at the end of my bed, holding a microphone in one hand, her mischievous grin wider than ever.

It is very clear who yelled in my ear a moment earlier.

I groan. " _Vanellope_. Ya do realize that there's no need to wake me up like 'tis, right?" I have kicked off the sheets by now and reached to turn off the huge stabilizing machine that rested on my bedside table.

Vanellope smirks, and folds her arms. "Well, fact is that Stinkbrain and Goldieglow are already having breakfast downstairs and that they're planning to take you some place new today. Stinkbrain thinks that you're going to like it. Oh well, but if you insist on sleeping in the whole day, I can just-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get the point. Go tell Ralph and Lucy I'll be down in just a sec, I need to change out of these clothes. But for now GET OUT OF MY ROOM! ! ! ! ! ! !" I reach back and throw a pillow at Vanellope, and she dodges it just in time, glitching. She sticks her tongue out at me. "Let's see if that's the case!" And with that she left my room, slamming the door behind her.

I sigh and unplug the rest of the wires out of my body, coiling and putting them on my bedside table. I then grab my prosthetic, change into my usual clothes, attach the portable stabilizer on my chest, and walk out of my room.

When I get downstairs, the mouthwatering scent of waffles blasts me in the face, and I see my brother, Wreck-it Ralph; his girlfriend Lucy; and of course, Vanellope. Lucy is just turning away from the counter, carrying a platter of freshly-baked waffles to the table. I pull out a chair and sit down next to my brother.

"Eat up fast, you've overslept." Ralph says, passing a plateful of hot waffles piled high with syrup and marshmallows to me—my favorite combination of waffle toppings. As I jamb my fork into the pile of waffles and start attacking them furiously, Ralph continues his sentence. "Arcade's closed for the day, so we thought we'd cool down a bit today: we're heading to the pool."

"Wait, the…the pool? What is that?" I ask, mouth full of waffles.

Ralph glances at Lucy, at Vanellope, then back at me. "It's a…a…place with a lot of water for us to get wet and swim in." He tries to explain, gesturing with his huge hands. "You know, like the river near the forest in our game, but much bigger and characters actually go and swim in it. You know?"

He catches my puzzled look. "Never mind. After breakfast we're all going there anyhoo. You can then see what it is like for yourself." Ralph says.

I shoved more waffles into my mouth. "Ya think I'm gonna like it?" I ask.

My brother smiles and pats me on the back. "Trust me: you're gonna _love_ it."

* * *

There are quite a few pools littered throughout the arcade, but only a few are actually large enough to hold lots of characters. The pool that Ralph told me about turned out to be located in one of the games at the far end of the arcade, so the train ride there was rather long. Not to mention that there are many other characters choosing to spend the day off at the very same pool we're going so the train was quite crowded. So crowded, in fact, I found myself squished against the door of the train, my face touching the glass in an awkward position.

Uncomfortable? Yes, definitely. But it was totally worth it, since near the end of our journey, the walls of the cable fell apart to reveal a stunning city landscape, with glass-made towers twisting in impossible ways, reaching the sky. It also turned out that instead of traveling on the ground as I first thought, we were actually gliding high above the city on a rail of some sorts, watching the world unfold underneath us.

Swimming or not, I'm definitely going to revisit this game if I can.

The train stops, the doors open, and I nearly crash out of the car that I'm in with no support to lean on. Luckily, someone yanks me back by the jacket before my face hit the pavement.

Ralph sighs "Should have kept a closer eye on you, RJ. Come on, pool's this way." I feel another tug, this time on my hand by a very excited Vanellope, and half-glitching, we run through the busy station and out of the gates, into the busy streets. Ralph and Lucy, holding each other's hands, emerged from the crowd moments later.

Together, we walk down several lanes, passing by many characters that are greatly human-like, but had skin the color of metal, the skin reflecting off them. It only took a slap from my brother for me to stop gawking at them. "The citizens are programmed like that, RJ." Ralph whispers in my ear "Deal with it."

We continue walking until we reach a large sparkling glass dome in the middle of the city. The words "SILVER CITY POOL" are hanging on a huge sign just on top of it.

"So, first things first." Ralph says as soon we passed the turnstiles while Lucy starts handing some bags out. "You cannot wear your own causal clothes in the pool, you have to wear a swimsuit. Lucy has kindly made one for each of us. Go get changed, and meet us out at the pool. Okay?"

Before I have the chance to object, Ralph has ushered me into the changing rooms and shoved me into a dressing closet. "See you later!" He calls, and walks away.

I lock myself into the closet, glancing at my reflection in the mirror. To be honest, I really don't want to remove my ordinary clothes and change into such…such revealing ones. There's something I want to hide under all my clothing, and for the moment, that particular thing is still there.

Sighing, I remove my clothing and my stabilizer, and take out the swimsuit that Lucy has made for me. I frown: it is simple pair of pants, green in color, with my name sewn on the bottom of it.

I shake my head, as if trying to unsee that I think I am seeing. Nope, the swimtrunks are still there. _"Is Lucy kidding me?!"_ I think to myself. _"I can't possibly go out in this!"_

Still, I put it on, but I take and wrap my jacket around me like a cloak, concealing my upper body and anything else I want to hide. Then I walk out to join Ralph and the others.

* * *

"There you are. Hey! Take off your jacket! You're not supposed to wear it in the water!" Ralph says, glaring at me. Similarly, he is wearing a pair of swimtrunks, only they're red in color, and he is shirtless. I look behind Ralph and see Vanellope and Lucy, both wearing swimsuits as well: Vanellope is wearing a mint green one-piece swimsuit with candy stripes, while Lucy is dressed more revealingly, in a green top and skirt with golden accents, exposing her Mark. In fact, everyone seems to be dressed revealingly while enjoying it…apart from me.

"I …I don't want to take it off…" I stammer, wrapping my jacket tighter, glitching.

"Why not?" Lucy asks, while undoing Vanellope's ponytail and running her hand through it, smoothing her hair. "You cannot enter the water with a shirt or jacket on."

"I don't want to…" I whimper again. "I rather watch from the sides while you go in…"

Ralph sighs and bends down to my height. "Listen to me, RJ. Why don't you want to remove your jacket? Is…there something you don't want to show?"

I sigh, and slowly nod my head. "Yep. I don't…want ya to laugh at me because of it, so maybe, I…"

"We're all at the pool just because of you, RJ." Lucy says, "Take it off: we promise we won't laugh because of anything underneath."

Slowly and reluctantly, I loosen my grasp around my jacket, and peel it off my shoulders. As I dump it on the beach chair behind me, I can hear Lucy gasp and Vanellope suck in her breath. "Oh my…" Ralph mutters, looking away.

For from my neck to my left forearm, and parts of my chest where my core is located, there are scars, hideous scars, expressed in the form of green, pixelated squares. I think they appeared after my second unlocking; I saw them one night when I was changing into my night clothes, and one glance at them made me change my entire outfit completely. I don't anyone to see my scars, my marks…until now.

"I…have these scars." I say, looking down at the ground. "I can't get rid of them. I don't like them, and I don't want ya to see them."

Ralph shakes his head, then motions me to sit down, and tugs off my prosthetic.

"We all have our scars, our marks, RJ," Lucy says from his side "I have my Mark of Magic on my shoulder, but those who don't know will sometimes mistake it as a tattoo, a symbol of evil, and avoid me. Being the only survivor of my dying game didn't help much either. But…" She lets out a small sigh, then continues "I wouldn't let it get in my way. It's a part of me after all. It's what makes me…me."

"Yeah, I agree. Like my Glitch, and yours, RJ." Vanellope pipes up, "Love-hate relationship with it, but I learnt how to live with it, use it to my advantage, even!"

As I look down and run a finger across my scars, I realize that the two girls are right. I may not be able to get rid of them, but I could overcome my fear of them, let them shine just like with my prosthetic.

Perhaps they aren't so different after all.

"Ya…ya right." I say finally, standing up. "My scars shouldn't be in my way of stayin' at the pool. Sure, they're a part of me, but I shouldn't let them hold me back." I bark out a laugh, surprised that I've come to such a conclusion, realizing that even something that is irremovable as my scars could be seen as nothing important, nothing that can deter me from the fun.

"Okay, are we ready?" Ralph asks, clasping his hands together. I nod, and holding onto Lucy and Ralph at the same time, I hobble over to the water edge. It is at that moment that I realize that I haven't noticed how the pool looked in its entirety, and look up.

Through the glass dome, sunlight shone through, its rays hitting the water, making it sparkle. Three water slides towered above the main pool, twisting and turning the characters in the air above us before depositing them smoothly into the pool below. Palm trees and rocks littered here and there, and there are several beach chairs propped against the edge of the pools with umbrellas attached, giving the entire setting a whole beach-like feel. I can see several other characters, not all of them citizens of the game we're in, hanging out as well.

By now, we have reached the edge of the pool, and carefully, I slide myself into the water. I yelp, as I wasn't expecting the water to be _that_ cold. Quickly, I rest my hands against the railings on the side of the pool and haul myself up.

Since this is my first time at the pool, the three of them spent the beginning trying to teach me how to swim in the pool, though it is proving difficult since I have a missing limb to start with. Nevertheless, after quite a while, I finally got the basics of swimming, and with Ralph's help I am sorta able to paddle slightly across the water. To be honest, it is a weird feeling, like I'm doing something that I shouldn't be doing, but hey! I like it.

Soon, I am challenging Lucy to swim across the pool, trying to have as much fun as all the others here.

Seeing everyone laughing and having so much fun, I suddenly have an urge to pull a small prank on them. Not mean enough to hurt them, but still enough to surprise them off. I start heading back to the edge, where we left our stuff on the chair. Lucy is calling my name, surprised that I am leaving the water so soon.

She'll be regretting that several moments later.

I get out of the water, and slowly, hopped my way towards the beach chair. I stop halfway through, then turn back at Ralph, Lucy and Vanellope, still in the pool, unsure of my actions. Then I grin.

"Make way, guys!" I call, suddenly glitching to the edge of the water and jumping in, splashing everyone near me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ralph shaking his head in disapproval just before getting hit by my wave, completely soaking him.

"You know, cannonballing us not encouraged in the pool, RJ." Ralph says, his hair sticking onto his face because of the water. But right after that he pushes his hands towards me, splashing me with water as well. I run a hand through my hair, laughing, as we take turns pushing water towards each other, soaking each other further.

Vanellope then motions for us to dive under the water, and there, we have a competition on who is able to hold their breath for the longest time before resurfacing. Ralph rolls his eyes before going under, muttering that Vanny plays this game all the time since she _always wins_. I try my best to hide my smile before diving under also.

Under the waters, it's a whole different scene down there. Sure, I can see a bunch of legs and feet of the characters standing, but also a few who are taking a shot at diving, swimming far under the surface. I am so focused in what I am seeing that I completely forget about our competition, but a tap from Ralph is enough to drag me back in.

Bragger or not, it turns out Vanellope was right: I am the third character to run out of air and resurface, while Vanny breaks the surface almost ten seconds later. "Told ya!" She yells, triumphant. I roll my eyes and splash her, laughing.

A few minutes later, Vanellope told us that she needed to go the washroom. While Lucy took her out of the water, I ask Ralph if we can try out the water slides soaring above the pool. Unfortunately, when we both got there, the lifeguard there told Ralph that he was too heavy to ride on the slides; I am still light enough to ride though.

"I'll meet you down… _there_ , where the slide ends" Ralph says, pointing to the far corner of the pool, where the end of the slide is just tucked between several rocks. "Have fun!" And with that, he disappears into the crowd, leaving me with a bronze-skinned lifeguard who is kind enough to aid me up the stairs.

It took a while, but finally I am at the very top of the stairs, watching another lifeguard pushing a character down a dark tunnel, the character whooping with joy as she was sent down. A few moments later the other lifeguard comes over and assists me onto the slide. "You ready, sir?" He asks me "'Cause it's gonna be a wild ride!"

I nod, and the lifeguard pushes my back, and I shoot forward into the tunnel.

For a few moments, I am plunged into darkness, traveling through the tunnel. Then all of a sudden, the tunnel falls away, and I find myself soaring high above the swimmers, the sunlight shimmering down onto the waters below. As I travel, I look around me, at the view, and the pool looks even more stunning than before.

From such a height, the entire pool looks tiny underneath me, like I'm looking at a model instead of an actual scene. Out of the corner of my view, I can see Ralph heading over to our rendezvous place, just like he told me to.

The slide takes me through several more bends and around yet another slide before I start to decrease in speed. I look up and see the end of the slide just in front of me. I hug my legs to my chest as I reach the end of my ride and fall into the water, the water freezing after my ride.

Quickly, I surface, only to see my brother is already there next to me. He doesn't need to ask to see that I had enjoyed the ride. I look up at him and start laughing, unable to contain my joy.

"Oui! What do you think you're doing?!"

I stop laughing abruptly, and whip my head back, only to see a crowd of characters gathered near where we are. Most of them are like the citizens that I saw earlier, but I don't know for certain. Two boys, both silvery-skinned, stood in the front. Obviously, they're the leaders of the group, and they sneer at me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" One of the boys asks, then answers himself "A former clone, now turned complete Glitch, hanging out in _our_ pool! Can't believe why he bothered to come here, though: with that one leg of his, he couldn't swim that far!"

I scowl, and make my way towards the crowd. "Excuse me, but _what did ya just say 'bout me?!_ "

"I said," the boy replies, "WHY DID YOU THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO COME TO A PLACE WHERE YOU DON'T BELONG?!" He then laughs haughtily, pointing.

"Why do ya think I shouldn't be here?!" I fire back at him "I have a right to cool off, just like ya do! Look! So are so, so, so many characters who aren't from yer game comin' here today, why do ya just pick on me, and not them?"

"Well, just think that this place isn't…well, too suitable for you, _Glitch._ " The other boy says, sweeping aside his silvery bangs. "Yeah, it messes up the whole scenery, we could use a better place to swim in."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch your mouth, young man." Ralph says, stepping up to my side. "No one trash-talks my brother like that, and I applaud you for being the first to do so."

"Thank you: I take that as a compliment." The boy replies smoothly. I hear Ralph hiss in rage under his breath, and honestly, I am pretty angered as well.

"Listen, dude." I say in a low, threatening voice. "Yes, ya. Guy with the smug on his face and who clearly doesn't know how to spell the word 'stupid'. Oh, and his partner in crime too." The boy has barely enough time to shoot me an offended look before I continue. "Now, now. I know what yer thinkin': _oh, this character, a clone-turned-glitch, has no right to go kiddy-paddle in our huge pool, because we don't like him_."

"Yeah, so?" The other boy shoots me back. "You don't really seem to see the main problem here, about who you are, about why you shouldn't be in the pool."

"Main problem?" I ask, slightly confused. "What main problem? Why does this matter so much to ya?!"

"Why? Because YOU'RE JUST A MISTAKE, THAT'S WHAT! ! ! ! !" He yells back, the verbal statement hurling at me like a sharp blade, piercing me straight in the core. I jerk back quickly, as if physically hurt from his words. Then I quickly collect myself and stand up straight, gritting my teeth in absolute anger.

That. Is. It.

"LEAVE. US. ALONE! ! ! ! !" I yell, angry, and plunge both hands into the water. It might be me, but I swear seeing… _something_ shoot out of my fingertips, like a green, glitchy bolt of electricity traveling across the water, towards the crowd. By now, the two mean boys have stopped smirking; and suddenly, they scream, their bodies shaking and glitching in the water. As they flailed their arms, the crowd around them scattered and several lifeguards leapt into the water to aid the boys.

As the boys are being towed back to land, some other characters have stopped what they're doing and turned to look at me. It took a moment for me to glance at their burned skin to realize what has happened to the two boys.

They have been electrocuted.

I have, somehow, electrocuted them.

Instantly, I turn and start making my way across the pool to land. I might have tripped or slipped underwater briefly because of my one leg, but I don't care: I just want to get out of this pool as fast as possible. I can hear Ralph behind me, telling me to slow down or stop, but I ignore him: I just wanna leave the pool.

I finally reach the edge of the pool where we propped out belongings and haul myself up. I start to walk to my beach chair, but I forget that I am not wearing my prosthetic, and I fall to the tiled ground. I hear voices behind me, but I still try and make my way to the chair, clambering on my hands and knees. My limbs are sore, but at last I reach the chair and hoist myself up onto it. It is then I started crying, to the point I cannot control myself.

I didn't even hear footsteps walking up beside me and a familiar shadow crossing where I sat. "Hey," Ralph says, about to put an arm around me "It's okay, I-"

"Leave me alone…" I whimper, turning away from Ralph. "I…I do not know what happened, and…I don't wanna hurt ya. Get away from me, please." I clutch my body as I glitched, afraid of what is happening to me.

Ralph simply put a hand around my shoulder, sighing. "You're no harm to me. I promise. But…just what happened? What did you do to them?" He asks me back.

"I…I don't know." I admit, looking down at my wet, soaking hands. Even as I'm sitting there, I can see tiny sparks of electricity flickering off them, tingling with energy.

"You went mad, you plunged your hands into the water, and then…you… _shot electricity out of your fingertips_?!" Ralph asks me, his voice astonished. " _That's particularly unheard of! How did you even do that?!_ "

"Don't ask me, okay?" I request, looking away. "I don't wanna hurt anyone. All I know is someone has gotten hurt because of…me shootin' out electricity from my hands, and I feel bad about it."

As I sit there, Ralph sighs and says "No one wants to see others get hurt, Ralph Jerome, that's for sure. But I'm also certain that you didn't do it on purpose, even, let's be honest, those boys totally deserved it. That's what you get for trash-talking characters." He turns and manages to look at me "We still don't really know what happened yet, RJ. It might just be a slight accident, it might not happen again..."

"But what if it _does_?" I blurt out, impatient "What if 'tis is somethin' I'm stuck with for, I don't know, the rest of my life? Characters' will be afraid of me, and I don't wanna hurt anyone more!"

Silence falls upon us, and then Ralph gingerly breaks it. "Don't…let it hold you back. Don't let your Glitch hold you back, RJ. You're…not perfect, but then again, no one is. Look at me: I'm not perfect, I got these huge freaking hands that I break almost everything with, but I won't let it get in my way of discovering who I really am. Remember Vanellope's and Lucy's words from earlier, before you got into the pool? 'Your scars don't define you.' And to be honest, your prosthetic doesn't too. New powers or not, they don't change who you are, right?"

I look up at my older brother, trying to take in his words. He's right: my Glitch doesn't change who I am, but only further solidifies me into the character I am becoming. Every day, I can feel my code changing, shifting, rearranging in ways I cannot predict. But like my scars, and my prosthetic, my Glitch isn't something that limits me, it shouldn't control me, making me become someone whom I know I'm not…

Ralph, seeing that I'm at a loss for words, simply wraps his arm around me and pulls me in for a hug. "There…there…glad to see you smile again." He sighs a happy sigh, glad that I finally saw through the issue in its entirety. I smile and look back at my brother, smiling.

"Thank you, Ralph, for letting me see the whole picture clearly. But…don't tell Lu or Vanny 'bout this, okay?" I ask. "I don't want them to be afraid of me. I just started to gain their trust on my own and I don't wanna ruin it."

My brother smiles and tugs me closer. "Done said, I will. This will be a secret between us. Though I have to report on Dr. Dey about this: hidden powers within the complete Glitch? He'll definitely be surprised."

We just sit there for a while, not saying anything, before Ralph suddenly reaches down and holds out a bag for me. "Darn it, completely forgot this. Vanellope told me to bring in this today, said that you would love it."

I jerk back abruptly, not expecting Ralph to say something like that. But seeing the bag dangling from his huge finger, I reach out and grab it. I peer inside, and pull an object that greatly resembled the large guns Calhoun and her army uses in _Hero's Duty_ , only it is much lighter in weight, and is splattered in bright neon colors. I weigh the thing in my hands, not knowing what to do with it. Am I supposed to shoot people with it, or…

"It's a water gun." Ralph explains, seeing my confused expression "Double the water capacity and attacking ability: able to aim more clearly and precisely. And yes, you shoot people with it, but with water instead of bullets. I actually wanted to give you this at the very beginning, but I completely forgot about it. Don't know if you still want to play with it after the whole…incident, though. But yeah, it is best if I gave it to you after all."

I look at the gun, at Ralph, then back at the gun.

"Thank you, Ralph." I finally say, standing up. "Thank you for 'tis! I can't wait to try it!"

"You really want to? Like, right now?" Ralph stands up quickly and steadies me. "After all of this?"

"Why not?" I ask back, slowly making my way back towards the pool. "Like ya said: my Glitch's part of me. They make me…well, me. I shouldn't be afraid of them, let them control me, forcin' me not to do certain stuff. Lucy was right: I shouldn't let my scars restrain me from havin' the fun; and if they can't hold back on me, why should my Glitch?"

"Are you really certain?" Ralph asks again, but is cut short when I glitch myself to the water edge, taking him with me "I don't think it is good to get back on the boys' bad side with this…"

"Trust me." I say, filling up my gun with water, my voice excited. "I know who I'm gonna prank."

By now, Lucy and Vanellope have returned to the pool. Lucy is looking around, apparently not knowing where we're at. She also doesn't know that she is currently being targeted by a certain Glitch…

I pick up my gun, close one eye, aim at my target, and pull the trigger.

A stream of water blasts out of my gun and makes its way towards the center of the pool. Lucy is watching a group playing ball at the moment and has her back turned at me, just in time for the jet of water shoot her in the back, sending her plummeting into the water.

Lucy manages to surface back up, spitting out water as she did so. She only needed to turn and realize who her attacker is. She storms towards me, hands on her hips, but there is no hiding the smile creeping up her face. Lucy raises up one hand, and with her magic powers, a ball of water is slowly being pushed up from the pool, hovering in front of her face.

My smile quickly fades as I realize what Lucy is planning to do, not to mention that Ralph had realized this much earlier than me and had already moved out of the way, making me the sole target. I simply have time to raise my hands and shield my face when the ball of water hits me, sending me falling backward. I would have crashed onto the ground if not for Ralph holding me.

"Thanks bro…wait, _what are ya doin'_?!" My voice suddenly becomes frantic as Ralph, instead of putting me back on the ground, starts to carry me towards the edge of the water.

"Ralph, no. Ya wouldn't…" I mutter nervously, glancing up at my brother. It is not looking good: Ralph has a mischievous grin, and with another look at the water, my mind clicks together as I realize what he is about to do.

"NO!" I only have time to scream before I am catapulted into the air, somersaulting a bit before landing into the pool with a huge splash. I cough and resurface, only to be instantly hit by a stream of water at my side.

"This is what you get for being stupid, Stinkface!" Vanellope calls, and shoots her water gun again. Turns out that she also has a water gun all along, but she didn't take it out until now.

So much for my water gun prank.

"Well, if that's what ya want…GAME ON!" I thrust out my own gun, fill it up, and shoot in Vanellope's direction. Before Vanellope has time to react, a thunderous splash echoes right next to me, soaking me entirely. I slick my hair back up and look around, only to see Ralph has just leapt into the pool next to me.

He cups his hands with water and simply pours the entire handful onto Vanellope, who failed to leave where we are now. She pulls a face and fires her gun again, pulling the remaining three of us into yet another water battle.

Soon, we are having so much fun that the next time I am blasted with water, I didn't realize that it didn't come from Vanellope, but from a shy gold-skinned character asking if she could join in our battle. Immediately after I said 'yes', the floodgates are open, and soon a full-blown pool party is in full swing. Characters are dousing each other, others are hoisting pool-based challenges. No one really cared who their attackers are, neither who they're pairing up with in the challenges: everyone is simply having a lot of fun together.

As I head over to the slides again, this time assisted by a diverse group of characters, I can't help glancing back at Ralph in the pool, who is currently beaming at me. I can see the pride in his eyes, and honestly, I am proud too. Somehow, despite all my scars, flaws and mishaps, I am able to overcome them all, and even make a few new friends along the way.

I am not perfect, not now, not ever, but I won't let it hold me back, ever.

Smiling, I sit on top of the slide and push myself off, sending me streaking forward, straight back into the pool party, and whatever my code and future holds for me.

~The End~

* * *

 **A/N: Till then, I'm out of here! :D**


End file.
